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OBL probably planned for this eventuality: Speculation over his death are rife: was it an American gun or his own security guard obeying orders?

While reports suggest that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead with a single bullet to his head when he resisted capture by US troops, an official indicated that the 54-year-old most wanted terrorist might have been killed by one of his own guards in line with his will to avert his arrest.

The Saudi-born terrorist, who had evaded capture for a decade, was reportedly killed in a top secret operation involving a small team of US Special Forces in Abbottabad city, located 50 kilometres northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometres east of Peshawar.

But an official, who visited the scene of the night assault soon after the departure of the US assault team from the sprawling compound in Thanda Choa, at stone's throw from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, thinks otherwise.

"From the scene of the gunbattle, it doesn't look like he could have been killed at point blank range from such a close angle, while offering resistance," the Dawn quoted the official, as saying.

Bin Laden's two wives, both in their early 50s and one of them of Yemeni origin, were among those left behind, the official said. A third woman, who was wounded in the late-night attack, was taken to a military hospital.

The official said that a total of nine children- said to be between 2 and 12 years- were also seized from the compound, including Bin Laden's 11-year-old daughter.

The women and children are now in the custody of Pakistan's security agencies, and a senior security official said that those rounded up would be subjected to interrogation to reach to the bottom of the whole story.

"We would want to know the whole story. How and when did the entire band come to this part of the region? Where was Bin Laden all these years? And was he actually there when the assault took place?" the official said. "There are a whole set of questions which need to be answered."

"One of the women who spoke a smattering of English said they had moved to the compound a few months ago. But we would want to know how did they come to this place," he added.